When I was in high school, we used to play a team that was so far away from us that our players brought pillows on the bus. We usually got out of class sometime just after lunch to make it to the opposing school in time for the game. Now, anyone who knows anything about trying to play a sport immediately after a long trip (especially in a school bus, which seem designed specifically for the purpose of torturing school children awake on the way to school) knows that you end up moving in a kind of haze for most of the game…especially soccer. Despite this however, we never got scored against when playing this team and we re-set records for goals scored in a game every single time we played them during my three years as a varsity player.

You know what though? We usually got barnstormed by whoever played us next. It was like playing this little cow-town team made us forget how to be organized, how to work together, that we were in fact a soccer unit and not some pick-up team where we could all press forward and try to get our names on the score sheet with impunity.

Barbados is a nation tied for 121st in the world according to the (admittedly dubious) FIFA rankings. I know this is World Cup qualifying and that we don’t want to end up in a situation we might regret later, but I seriously doubt that 1) beating them 8-0 has any long-term benefits for our national side, or that 2) we would have been in peril of losing this game if we had played a small percentage of lesser used (notice I didn’t say less skilled?) players. Why can’t Kenny Cooper and Sasha Kljestan and Jay Demerit beat Barbados?

What do we gain by seeing an already exhausted Clint Dempsey turn out against this side? AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHY IS EDDIE JOHNSON STILL IN A USA UNIFORM? I’m almost happy that Tim Howard strained his back in training (relax, he’ll be fine I’m sure) so that Brad Guzan can get a full game in. I admit, I’ve already made critical comments about Bradley’s seeming unwillingness to field the same side twice in a row. I believe in continuity and I believe that’s why some national sides loaded with talent fail, because they just don’t play together enough (did someone just say “Spain”?). And Landon had been out for a while with a strained groin, so he deserved 45 or so minutes to get to run around, as did Beasley who’s coming off that injury. But what did we gain? Seriously? So I guess we’re safe just in case Barbados beats us 7-0 in the return leg…home field advantage is big after all, but for someone who spent the last 2 years digging into the depths of the player pool and who couldn’t field a non-transitional side against freakin’ England and Spain just within the last two weeks, I think this was a bit much.

I’m scared, is all.

I’m scared that Bradley is either going to turn into another Steve Sampson, who thought he had become a tactical genius when he began playing a ludicrous formation within months of the ‘98 World Cup, and was touting it as a success because we were beating CONCACAF minnows (and we all remember how that worked out for us, don’t we?), or that he’s going to continue making questionable decisions and will end up being replaced right before the cup in So. Africa, which would almost be worse. Am I missing something? Is there a method to Bradley’s madness? He acts like he knows what he’s doing. Maybe if he would just let the rest of us into his world…

What do you suppose he’s thinking about?